Even from far Australia, Russia, China, Europa came to visit us and encourage collectors.*

About us

If a foreigner, a person tanning next to you at the beach during your holiday, for instance, says: “The Czech Republic, of course, I know”, and subsequently he/she adds promptly “Bustehrad”, it will certainly make you wonder.

And still, it is true that the small central Czech town is situated next to metropolises such as Paris, London, Munich or Amsterdam. Thanks to the unique collectors’ market the town has appeared on the pages of European periodicals (otherwise quite taciturn when it comes to informing about Czech basin) its name can be found in the prospectuses of foreign travel agencies, an interest in the tradition of Czech collectors’ market has been shown, among other publicly well-known people, also by Canadian ambassador....
In short, the Czech, German, Italian, French and Dutch collectors along with those from other countries have found their way to Bustehrad over nearly 30 years of the market’s existence. Moreover, most of them are coming back regularly. On this occasion we would like to turn back to the past of this event that never stops moving the town of Bustehrad.

However, first we should stop at their new name – Collectors’ market. According to the amendment to the Act on Commodity Exchange, the term “exchange“ can be used only by persons that are entitled to mediate exchange deals and their services are aimed at the technical activities of exchanges. So mach for the law, from which it follows that using this notion in the names of events that have the nature of a bazaar or a market is regarded as unauthorized. And the sanction connected with the fine amounting to half a million Czech crowns is a good reason for us to return to the name exchange only in nostalgic memories.

The first collectors’ markets in Bustehrad took place as early as 1979, or typically on the turn of 1970s and 1980s, when the club life of collectors in the Czech Republic attained its imaginary zenith. From the newsletters of that period we can learn about the activities of the Club founded at Culture house of trade unions in Hradec Kralove, as well as about exchanges that took place there, about clubs founded at UKDZ in Prague, about the wide range of collectors unions – beginning with antiques and ending with minerals.
Bustehrad exchanges, the birth of which was seen by local Public Enlightenment Organization, originally took place some six times a year. Gradually, as the event’s importance and uniqueness was increasing, their frequency nearly quadrupled to the current number. No wonder, as the markets celebrated their 30th anniversary on May 19, 2009.

Let us not forget the venue of the markets: from April to October they take place in amphitheater, while in winter the antiquities moved to the halls of restaurant called Na Kahanci and U Becvaru. Let us confess that least convenient environment for organizing of the exchange was the surrounding of the local school and its premises. Moving the event to the area close to Bustehrad’s cemetery in the middle of 1990s has certainly not reduced its popularity.
And are why the Bustehrad collectors’ markets so unique? The reason is undoubtedly their profile focusing on the subjects manufactured before 1945, or 1948. Thanks to the Public Enlightenment Organization and the organizers who have managed to maintain the original nature of the markets for over 25 years, the town became a notion in the world of collectors and the markets have not merged with traffickers bazaars or flea markets.

I would like to conclude by pointing out that the public attitudes to the event are varying. However, it is nothing unusual that things have their sympathizers and protesters. But even the biggest pessimists cannot deny the substantial fact that the town has become known to the public especially thanks to collectors’ markets. And it is not secret that the representatives of towns and regions have to allocate considerable expenditures for promotion that can hardly be compared with that of Bustehrad.

Let’s wish the Collectors’ markets a lot of supporters and only a few protesters in the years ahead, and let their refinement and development be for the benefit of the town of Bustehrad